I am currently on sabbatical investigating opportunities ands issues for sole charge and remote schools and was most interested to read both this article and Jeff Hayward's sabbatical write-up. Seems there is a strong case for more support for remote, sole charge principals. My catch-phrase is 'staff' not 'stuff'. We get delivered truck loads of 'resources' but don't have the time or staff to effectively implement even our own curriculum let alone all the add ons!

I am also on sabbatical investigating the changing face of small rural schools. I look forward to reading the rest of this article.

It might well be that this example of 'not agreeing to follow a Ministry-prescribed programme of work' could have led to a negative student experience, but generally speaking, 'not agreeing to follow a Ministry-prescribed programme of work' isn't necessarily a bad thing. It reminds me a little of the Marsden/Kendall dispute in 1815 that broke out with CMS regarding the very first Euro style school in NZ. I think Kendall (teacher) got it right and CMS (the governing body of an education mandate) was wrong. It was a classic case of the teacher having a clearer sense of what was 'best' under the circumstances. By the way, I'm not interested in opening a philosophical or creedal debate - I simply felt like posting a comment.